Audio rendering device and audio configurator device for audio stream selection, and related methods

1. An audio rendering device comprising at least one audio rendering unit for playing audio streams, a processing circuit and a wireless communication unit for establishing wireless links, wherein said audio rendering device is configured to:

receive, by the wireless communication unit, a remote audio stream prioritization policy comprising one or more lists of associations between audio stream attributes and priority values;

update, by the processing circuit, a local audio stream prioritization policy based on the remote audio stream prioritization policy;

identify, by the processing circuit, audio streams that are available via wireless links;

retrieve, by the processing circuit, audio stream attributes of the available audio streams;

select, by the processing circuit, an available audio stream to be played among the available audio streams, based on the updated local audio stream prioritization policy and based on the audio stream attributes of the available audio streams; and

play the selected available audio stream by the at least one audio rendering unit of the audio rendering device.

2. The audio rendering device according to claim 1 , wherein selecting an available audio stream to be played comprises:

determining a priority score for each available audio stream based on the priority values associated, in the updated local audio stream prioritization policy, to the audio stream attributes of the available audio streams; and

selecting the available audio stream based on the priority scores.

3. The audio rendering device according to claim 2 , wherein determining a priority score for an available audio stream having at least two audio stream attributes listed in the updated local audio stream prioritization policy comprises at least one of:

selecting one of the respective priority values associated to the at least two audio stream attributes; and

combining the respective priority values associated to the at least two audio stream attributes.

4. The audio rendering device according to claim 3 , wherein selecting one of the respective priority values associated to the at least two audio stream attributes comprises selecting the priority value indicating highest priority.

5. The audio rendering device according to claim 4 , wherein when two available audio streams have identical priority values indicating highest priority, selecting one available audio stream to be played among these two available audio streams comprises comparing their respective priority values indicating second highest priority.

6. The audio rendering device according to claim 3 , wherein: the at least two audio stream attributes are listed in different lists of the updated local audio stream prioritization policy, said different lists having different priority levels; and selecting one of the respective priority values associated to the at least two audio stream attributes comprises selecting the priority value of the audio stream attribute of the list having the priority level indicating highest priority.

7. The audio rendering device according to claim 1 , wherein the remote audio stream prioritization policy is received from a first audio configurator device and wherein the audio rendering device is configured to:

transmit, by the wireless communication unit and to a second audio configurator device, the remote audio stream prioritization policy received from the first audio configurator device;

receive, by the wireless communication unit and from the second audio configurator device, feedback information regarding acceptance or rejection of the remote audio stream prioritization policy; and

update the local audio stream prioritization policy based on the remote audio stream prioritization policy received from the first audio configurator device when the feedback information indicates an acceptance of said remote audio stream prioritization policy received from the first audio configurator device.

8. The audio rendering device according to claim 1 , wherein at least one audio stream attribute of at least one available audio stream is retrieved in a metadata information related to said at least one available audio stream.

9. The audio rendering device according to claim 8 , wherein the metadata information is extracted from audio stream content of said at least one available audio stream.

10. The audio rendering device according to claim 1 , wherein the reception of the remote audio stream prioritization policy is performed with a Bluetooth Low Energy Generic Attribute-based profile.

11. The audio rendering device according to claim 1 , wherein said audio rendering device is configured to determine autonomously an updated priority value of at least one audio stream attribute.

12. The audio rendering device according to claim 1 , configured to, when selecting a second audio stream over a first audio stream, stop the reception of the first audio stream content before starting the reception of the second audio stream content.

13. The audio rendering device according to claim 1 , configured to, when selecting a second audio stream over a first audio stream:

start the reception of the second audio stream content before stopping the reception of the first audio stream content;

play simultaneously the first audio stream content and the second audio stream content; and

stop the reception of the first audio stream content.

14. The audio rendering device according to claim 1 , wherein each audio stream attribute corresponds to one of:

identifier of an audio stream source device;

identifier of a type of audio stream source devices;

identifier of an audio stream content provider; and

identifier of a type of audio stream contents.

15. A method for playing an audio stream by an audio rendering device comprising at least one audio rendering unit for playing audio streams, wherein said method comprises steps of:

receiving a remote audio stream prioritization policy comprising one or more lists of associations between audio stream attributes and priority values;

updating a local audio stream prioritization policy based on the remote audio stream prioritization policy;

identifying audio streams that are available via wireless links;

retrieving audio stream attributes of the available audio streams;

selecting an available audio stream to be played among the available audio streams, based on the updated local audio stream prioritization policy and based on the audio stream attributes of the available audio streams; and

playing the selected available audio stream by the at least one audio rendering unit of the audio rendering device.